[grzm]

Genuinely curious: do you know precedent that supports the idea of an ad network considered a common carrier? I've seen people claim the same of websites like Facebook or Twitter, but I haven't seen evidence for this either. I've looked for some, but admittedly not extensively.

[nailer]

Was actually thinking of Twitter and FB rather than ad networks. Sorry, I appreciate original article was discussing ad networks, however same argument (no moral expectation of speech for private businesses) is always used to allow Twitter to inconsistency ban accounts that don't meet SF political mores.

[grzm]

Thanks for clarifying. It's still not clear to me that a website is a common carrier. Do you have a reference I can look at regarding the "no moral expectation…" argument?

[nailer]

Re 'no moral expectation of speech for private businesses', a frequent argument made against free speech is that free speech is only required to be enforced by the government, the first amendment doesn't apply to private companies. This is true, but assumes there is no moral imperative to compel private companies to enforce free speech.

[grzm]

Thanks for expanding. A related concept that I find powerful is that what is legal is not the same as what is moral or ethical.